The third No Kings protest in March was, from the perspective of its organizers, a huge success. Said to be, once again, among the largest protests in U.S. history, it demonstrated that many Americans remain deeply concerned about the country’s direction. And we should be proud of that civic engagement.
Yet the narratives being perpetuated continue to worry me. The theory of social change often seems limited entirely to electoralism and the ballot box, amounting to little more than voter registration drives for the Democratic Party – disheartening, to say the least, for those of us consistently disappointed and betrayed by the two-party system.
What’s more, there is a dangerous misunderstanding of fascism at work. The message often seems to be: “Fascism is here! We must organize to vote them out!” as if that is how fascism has historically operated, or how resistance to it succeeds. The fact is that fascists do not willingly allow themselves to be voted out of power, which is part of what makes them fascists.
We must vote, but that should be the beginning of civic engagement, not the end-all be-all. We also need local organizing, mutual aid, participatory democracy and direct community action.
Those who advocate voting so vociferously must ask themselves what they will recommend if voting and elections are ever suppressed, curtailed or canceled in favor of authoritarian rule determined to maintain power at all costs.
Nathan Coe
Durango